Metal Bulletin Research STRATEGIC OUTLOOK FOR THE PRIMARY BATTERY 2 | Page 2

Battery Metals 3 Battery Chemistry Table 3.1: Example Elemental Compositions of Various Battery Types Battery Type Li-ion Ni-Cadmium Alkaline Ni-Metal Hydride Lead-Acid Zinc-air Zinc-carbon Ni neg. 22% 1% 35% neg. neg. neg. Zn neg. neg. 15% 1% neg. 35% 20% Li 3% neg. neg. neg. neg. neg. neg. Pb neg. neg. neg. neg. 65% neg. neg. Cd neg. 15% neg. neg. neg. neg. neg. Co 18% neg. neg. 4% neg. neg. neg. Fe 22% 35% 25% 20% neg. 42% 17% Source: MBR The primary industrial metals used in batteries are cobalt, zinc, nickel, lead and lithium. Manganese, cadmium and iron are also important. For the primary industrial metals, cobalt typically has the highest price per tonne, followed by nickel, lithium and then lead and zinc. Because lead and zinc often occur together geologically, they are often mined together, and thus the markets for both metals are heavily correlated. Furthermore, there are multiple types of battery electrolyte. The following table shows the types of electrolytes used in the batteries covered in this study. Table 3.2: Common Electrolytes Used in Various Battery Types Battery Type Li-ion Ni-Cadmium Alkaline Ni-Metal Hydride Lead-Acid Zinc-Bromine Zinc-Cerium Zinc-Air Zinc-Carbon Electrolyte Lithium percholate, lithium hexaflourophosphate, lithium tetraflouroborate, organic solvents Potassium hydroxide Potassium hydroxide Potassium hydroxide, manganese dioxide Sulphuric acid Aqueous zinc, aqueous bromine Methanesulfonic acid Potassium hydroxide Zinc chloride, ammonium chloride Source: MBR While these electrolytes are a significant raw material for battery manufacturing, they typically do not have the same economic impact on the use of various battery types as the metallic components that go into their construction. 3.2 Lead-Acid The lead-acid battery represents the oldest type of rechargeable battery and is the traditional battery used in combustion engine vehicles. These are incredibly hardy batteries, capable of starting cars in even the most extreme conditions, but their weight and the trade-off between power and durability has prevented their widespread use in the hybrid and electric vehicle market. They use sulphuric acid for an electrolyte, porous lead for an anode and lead-dioxide for a cathode. The main advantage of lead batteries is price, as lead is relatively cheap, and a huge infrastructure already exists to make lead-acid batteries. Le Y\